Sounds Good

Meet Bates’ ‘French girls’ and pine for the pig
A picture is truly worth 1,000 words for amicable artist Delle Bates. Through his Orange studio, he sells his bold faces he’s painted in oil to clients around the world. Wall Street and Post-Rita angels in T-shirts are other themes. He said he chatted with a New York reporter for more than an hour and the “story” ended up as pretty much a sentence, that storms inspire Bates to paint angels. He’s known for it.
To meet Bates is to make a friend. He’ll tell you how this spring’s visit to France had him shuffling to two museums a day for 28 days and how he’s “starving” to paint more. Everyone there was in a scarf, and he’s painted some of that excitement into works he’ll show at Texas Artists Museum in October. A dark cadmium redhead with absinthe-green eyes is named “Lucy in the Sky.”
Jean Gunn and James Black will also show works in October. TAM, a, 3501 Cultural Center Drive, offers monthly Second Sunday programs with entertainment, often combined with artists’ receptions.

Pining for the Pig
If you miss Ralph the Swimming Pig of Aquarena Springs in San Marcos, then pop some corn and get ready for the Swine Dive. I recently caught a documentary on this grand-scale amusement park that paved the way for today’s family fun stops. I saw the underwater mermaid show as a child, so I loved this film featuring memories from former swimmers and park tenders. Bob Phillips, a tourism specialist not associated with the country reporter of the same name, made this movie. He’s one of hundreds who worked there as a youth. Get yours at www.aquarenaandralph.com.

Stable Spirit has haunted hay ride plans
As if the woods aren’t already scary. The fifth annual Haunted Hay Ride Festival, sponsored by Stable-Spirit and Tyrrell Park Stables, will be Fridays & Saturdays of Oct. 21, 22, 28, & 29, from 7 to 10 p.m., at Tyrrell Park Stables, 5595 Tyrrell Park Road, inside Tyrrell Park.